Wally’s Wagers: Master Carpenter joins top ranks

Darren Walters

Master Carpenter and Phillip Makin stole the show on York’s famous Knavesmire last Saturday.

The 14­-1 shot trained by Rod Millman pounced in the final furlong to edge out long-time leader Kelinni and win the 56th John Smith Cup.

A superb training performance considering the horse had only run a week previous at Sandown.

Winning jockey Makin said: “We had a nice draw in stall one, I didn’t have to use any petrol and he travelled great.”

Phillip Makin was in tremendous form throughout the day completing a four timer at odds of around 5,000­-1, which is a remarkable achievement considering the hugely competitive york race card.

He is now priced up at 10­-1 to win the Go Racing in Yorkshire top jockey award, which seems a fair price.

Yorkshire-based trainer David O’Meara had a fantastic weekend winning the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket with the beautifully named filly Amazing Maria.

Considering it was only four weeks ago she trounced her rivals at Royal Ascot, to back that up with another Group 1 is a testament to O’Meara and his team.

The 17­2 winner under star jockey James Doyle came clear in the final furlong and won well.

Out do and Birdman completed the day for the trainer, who both won valuable contests at York impressively.

Considering only holding a training license for five years, David O’Meara has made a massive impact on the racing scene, with the knack of taking average horses from other training yards, and sometimes improving them 25lb­40lb is simply staggering, this is no coincidence it takes a great deal of hard work, but above all talent.

With Glorious Goodwood only a few weeks away, this weekend looks fairly quiet in terms of class on show.

A very good meeting will take place at the Curragh in Ireland, the Darley Irish oaks there showpiece. Legatissimo is my fancy here.

After winning the 1,000 guineas the David Wachman trained filly finished very fast last time out in the Pretty Polly Stakes, a short head behind Diamondandrubies. I thought she was unlucky not to get the gaps, and 4­1 is simply too big.

I can’t see the horse been as big as that on the day.

The Group 2 Invincible Spirit Sapphire Stakes is another interesting race on the cards.

The 5f sprint is fast and furious and I can’t get away from Mecca’s Angel, hopefully there should be some cut in the ground and Michael Dods’ grey filly will take her place in what looks a very competitive field.

The key is the ground as she doesn’t want it fast, any rain will help her chances and I can see her running a huge race.